*** Welcome to piglix ***

Hal Munson

Hal Munson
As the World Turns character
Portrayed by Benjamin Hendrickson
Duration 1985–2006
First appearance 1985
Last appearance July 12, 2006
Created by Susan Bedsow Horgan
Classification Former; regular
Profile
Occupation Detective

Harold "Hal" Todd Munson, Jr. is a fictional character that appeared on the American soap opera As the World Turns. He was played by Benjamin Hendrickson from 1985 to 2004 and 2005 to 2006. Hal was the Chief of Police at the Oakdale Police Department.

He was described as a "tough-but-gentle" police chief by People magazine."

Hendrickson was asked to play the role of Hal Munson by then head writer, Susan Bedsow Horgan. His tenure with the show ran until 2004, when he quit the show over a contract dispute.

He returned to the show in 2005 with his character now being thrust into storylines which involved his children. The following year, Hendrickson committed suicide with a gun shot to the head. The show dealt with the death off-screen in October 2006 by having the character shot in the line of fire, and his family and friends celebrating his life and years in Oakdale. Of the death, co-star Ellen Dolan said she was heartbroken. "He was a marvelous and gifted man, I just know him to be a wonderful man with a big heart – we are all part of a tight family here. I am just heartbroken."

Upon arriving in Oakdale, Hal immediately started investigating James Stenbeck. In the course of the investigation, he met and fell in love with James's ex-wife, Barbara Ryan. Their relationship was strained, though, because of her preoccupation with her son, Paul, so Hal started confiding his problems with his partner, Margo Hughes. Soon, he and Margo became best friends. One night they turned to each other out of loneliness and made love. Soon after, Margo ran away from Oakdale and Hal married Barbara. Margo came back months later with a child she claimed was hers and Tom's. Ten months later, Hal learned that Adam was actually his! Hal was angry with everyone for keeping this secret. He was especially angry with Barbara and felt betrayed by her since she had known the truth. Before he had a chance to forgive her, Barbara ran off to Europe. Hal decided to let, Adam be raised by the Hughes family and he decided to give Barbara another chance when she returned. Unfortunately, he found out that Barbara had an affair in Europe and, when she told him the child she was carrying wasn't his, he divorced her. After the divorce, Hal left Oakdale to do some undercover work while Barbara gave birth to a daughter, Jennifer. Hal returned a few years later. By this time, his anger toward Barbara had softened and they made love. Soon after, Hal left again on another undercover assignment and was presumed dead. When he resurfaced, he found out that his night with Barbara produced a child, Will. Hal married Barbara at his father's house.

The marriage ended when Hal learned that Barbara lied about being stalked. Hal lived alone for a while, until he learned of the existence of a daughter he never knew about, Nikki. He and Nikki formed a close father-daughter relationship and Nikki persuaded Hal to tell Adam the truth about his parentage. A few years later, a lonely Hal found himself attracted to Carly Tenney and impulsively married her. Very quickly after, Carly got pregnant. Their marriage started to fall apart however, thanks to resistance from Nikki who believed that Carly was up to something. Meanwhile, Hal started to suspect that Carly was still in love with her old boyfriend, Hal's friend and subordinate, Jack Snyder. Later, Hal was shocked to learn that Carly lied about the paternity of her baby and quickly divorced her. Although Carly quickly married the man she believed to be the father (John Dixon), and gave birth to a baby boy named Parker Joe, it was soon discovered that Parker was Hal's son after all.


...
Wikipedia

...